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1971

1971

V.S. NaipaulIn a Free State
Deutsch

The Booker Prize had its first controversy, in the form of one of the judges, Malcolm Muggeridge. Having read his way through most of the submissions he found himself ‘out of sympathy’ with them and withdrew his services, ‘nauseated and appalled’. At the same time critics questioned whether V. S. Naipaul’s In a Free State should win the prize as it consisted of five works – two short stories, two novellas and a short novel – linked by a common theme.